|
I've worked remotely for almost four years now. I'm in a suburb of a large US city on the East coast, not really a tech city. It's... fine? I guess? I guess I never really thought about doing this job in a "non-tech" city, versus doing it in a "tech" city. I'm not entirely sure what the difference would be in a "tech" city. If you're into the startup scene, or simply really enjoy local hacker stuff like local user groups, maker spaces, etc then doing a remote tech job in a non-descript suburb would surely suuuuuuuuuck. Those aren't big factors for me though. I have friends and family here, and I satisfy my urge to connect with the larger "tech community" online and thru my team at work. As far as working from home in general, I love it. It's not for everybody. For most people I believe it's 1000% healthier than commuting if you have a full and healthy life outside of work and your job provides at least a modicum of community via daily video calls, etc. It's just a simple math equation: there are a fixed number of hours in a week. Since I switched to remote work, I spend less hours commuting and thus I have more time for sleep, other pursuits, exercise, friends, etc. Not everybody feels the same about remote work and that's fine. You will quickly discover if it's for you! Unexpected hurdles? 1. Feeling like you're "always at work". Enforce some kind of physical space for work time. If you don't have a separate office, it can even just be a particular chair at the dining room table that is reserved for "work time."
2. General lack of respect from friends and family assuming that "work from home" means. They think you aren't working, or you can just completely make your own schedule, leave work on a Tuesday afternoon to drive Aunt Sally to the dentist, etc. For folks who've never worked from home it can be hard for them to wrap their heads around it. |